Packing wateb-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT CFBICE.

ERASMUS SMITH, OF lNORVICH, NEW YORK.

PACKING WATER-WHEELS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,335, dated October 12, 1852.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERASMUS SMITH, of Norwich, in the county of Chenango and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Waterl/Vheels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a View in perspective of the wheel, and Fig. 2 a vertical section through the line m :c of Fig. l; Fig. 8, a vertical section of the wheel and its case in part taken through the line 0 0 of Fig. 2.

The wheel as represented in the drawing, to which my improvement is applied, in its general construction and arrangement is of a well known form, and is fed by a trunk A, which enters a lixed cylindrical chamber B, whose ends are occupied by revolving disks C C, that constitute the wheel, and which move in unison, being mounted upon the same shaft E. The water rotates the wheels C C by its pressure against the inclined sides of the curved projecting mouths or outlets F. To obtain a full, effective force with wheels of this description it is necessary that no escape of the water from the chamber B should occur except through the buckets or outlets F. Therefore it is important to keep the wheels C C in close contact with the edges of the chamber B, against which they rub in rotating, to avoid leakage through the joints between the wheels and the edges of the chamber. I accomplish this obj ect by inserting suitable packing between the chamber and wheels fitted to or on the edges of the chamber B. This packing has hitherto been arranged on the exterior or around the outer circumference of the chamber B, but it is found that this arrangement is very defective, and does not admit of that facility of adjustment to compensate for wear which is necessary, as by the posit-ion of the wheel, which is immersed for a portion of its depth or diameter in the tail water it is a matter of great ditliculty and generally impracticable to set up the packing as the Wear requires beneath the lower portion of the chamber, because to get at this port-ion of it from underneath the operator would have to work under water, which is both inconvenient and injurious to health and is generally omitted. Consequently the most wasteful leakage that could occur in connection with the packing takes place unchecked, for it happens where the pressure of the water by its fall is greatest and of course its power to escape the strongest. This leakage therefore detracts most materially from the available power of the wheel, and Where water is scarce is a serious evil. To remedy this defect is the main object of invention, which consists in arranging the packing in such manner that it can be set up from the interior of the chamber B against the lower portion of the periphery of the wheel, and on the exterior of the chamber against the upper portion of the periphery of the Wheel.

The upper half of the shell of the chamber B is hinged at a a so that it may be opened for getting with facility to the packing arranged around the lower half of its periphery. The packing around the edges of the chamber for keeping the joints with the wheels C C tight may be either circumferential or radial, that is may be either arranged to be set up by moving radially outward from or toward the center of the Wheel, or be adjusted by sliding or setting them up in a direction parallel to the axis of the wheel, the packing l) having this latter movement, while the packing c on the opposite side or edge is fitted so as to be adjustable radially, the packing o having slots in it through which the bolts CZ securing it to the chamber are fitted, the said slots serving to admit of the packing being set up as may benecessary to compensate for wear.

The packing may be made of the same material as ordinary Water packing, the important novelty being in the arrangement for setting up. The packing of the upper half or portion of the chamber B is arranged for adjustment from the outside, but for the convenience of setting up the packings on the lower half or portion of the chamber the packing is arranged so that it may be set up from the interior, as represented more particularly in F ig. 3. In thus referring to the upper and lower half or portion of the chamber, the division as regards the arrangement of the upper and lower packing is supposed to take place at the small double lines marked e e in Fig. 2. This arrangement for setting,up the packings will be found exceedingly convenient, insomuch that the packings on the upper portion or half of the chamber may be set up from the outside at any time and while the wheel is working, and by shutting loi temporarily the supply of water and allowing the chamber B to empty itself through the wheel the packings of the lower portion or half of the chamber may be readily got at for adjustment from the interior by opening the upper or hinged portion of the case, and thus though the wheel and its chamber be partially immersed the lower packing may be readily got at by suitable instruments from the interior, whereas if the packing was on the exterior of the lower part, as it is on the upper part, it could not be adjusted from the exterior, so that the entire circumference of the packing on either edge of the chamber B against the wheel C C may with the greatest facility be adjusted from time to time to compensate for wear and thus prevent leakage.

Having thus described my improved water wheel, what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

'Ihe arrangement of the packing between the edges of the chamber or case, and the "wheels, in such manner that the packing on 

